Omens and Prodigies
by suzuyaza
Summary: RiverClan and all of the territories around the lake have suffered through an unbearable poisoning. Many cats have abandoned the lake, including Slate’s mother. Slate wishes to return to her roots, but must learn what it takes to be a warrior— both inside and out. With all four Clans hurt, will the Warrior Code bring them strength? Or will there have to be unthinkable amends?
1. Allegiances

**_Allegiances_**

RiverClan:

Leader:

**Meadowstar*** —F— A muscular brown and black tabby with emerald green eyes. She has a dull pink nose and black pads.

Deputy:

**Silversky*** —M— A sturdy, gold eyed silver tom with white whiskers and a scar down his left ear. He has a pink nose and pink pads.

Medicine cat(s):

**Raintuft*** —M— A small black and white cat with yellow eyes and a bushy white tail. He has a black nose and black paws with white whiskers.

**Hawkpaw*** —F— A bright russet cat with hazel eyes and a short, spiky pelt. She has a pink nose and pink pads.

Warriors:

**Clovertail*** —F— A grey-green cat with a thin, long tail and green eyes. She has a very dark pink nose and grey pads.

**Dawnpetal*** —F— A lithe, thick furred, orange-yellow cat with radiant bronze eyes. She has a bright pink nose and pink pads.

[Mother to Hawkpaw and Finchpaw]

**Willowshade*** —M— A gray-eyed muscular tom with broad shoulders and a thick, sleek gray pelt. He has a dusty black nose and black pads. [Father to Stormpaw]

**Dappledmist*** —F— A thin, gray-eyed she-cat with a dappled calico pelt and large ears. She has a dusty pink nose and pink pads. [Mother to Stormpaw]

**Springbrook*** —M— A fluffy spotted brown tabby with blue eyes. He has a brown nose and brown pads. [Father to Quietpool's kits]

**Honeydrop*** —F— A soft yellow-eyed yellow and white she-cat with gold paws. She has a pink nose and pink pads.

**Nightfrost*** —M— A black tom with green eyes and a scarred muzzle. He has a black nose and black pads.

**Sunfall*** —M— A bright, pale yellow tom with yellow-green eyes and a thick tail. He has a dull pink nose and pink pads.

**Reednose*** —M— A brown solid colored cat with gold eyes. He has a brown nose and brown pads.

**Fernfoot*** —M— A long haired, dusty gray tom with green eyes and long, fluffy legs. He has a gray nose and gray pads.

**Marshpelt*** —M— A brown and tan tabby with fur that nearly touches the ground and blue eyes. He has a dark brown nose and black pads.

Apprentices:

**Dewpaw*** —M— A silver tom with vibrant blue eyes. He has a pink nose and pink pads.

**Hailpaw*** —F— A silver she-cat with golden eyes and almost invisible whiskers. She has a pink nose and pink pads.

**Finchpaw*** —M— A caramel tom with long fur on the tips of his ears and dull brown eyes. He has a brown nose and black pads.

**Stormpaw*** —M— A fluffy, pure black tom with piercing blue-green eyes. He has a black nose and black pads.

Queens and kits:

**Rushingriver*** —F— brown and white tabby with blue eyes— also mother to Hailpaw and Dewpaw

**Shellkit*** —F— silver solid with blue eyes ***Seedkit*** —M— brown tabby with yellow eyes

**Tansyspots*** —F— golden eyed ginger speckled cat with a fluffy tail

**Minnowkit*** —M— dark brown mackerel tabby with gold eyes

**Pondkit*** —M— ginger and brown splotched tom with amber eyes and a long, thick tail

**Quietpool*** —F— fluffy white and tan-colored queen with blue-green eyes

**Pearlkit*** —F— A shimmering white cat with closed blue eyes, a silver muzzle, and a thick pelt

Elders:

**Heatherwind*** —F— faded red fur with gray around muzzle, purple-blue eyes. mother of Dawnpetal, Tansyspots, and Cherryfur

**Rippleheart*** —F— dusty thick gray fur with green-blue eyes—mother to Raintuft and Fernfoot

**Calmwater*** —F— former medicine cat, with a calm expression and brilliant blue eyes that compliment her gray-blue fur—older sister to Quietpool and Mint

ShadowClan:

Leader:

**Clawstar*** —F— An extremely strong silver queen with blue eyes and faint gray stripes around battle scars

Deputy:

**Mapledusk*** —F— A large, thick-furred brown, black, and cream tabby with gold-green eyes

Medicine Cat(s):

**Poppyflower*** —F— A small, caramel and white-swirled she-cat with gold eyes

**Hazelpaw*** —F— A brown and black cat with curly fur and amber eyes

ThunderClan:

Leader:

**Willowstar*** —M— A sturdy, older tom with brown striped fur and green eyes

Deputy:

**Petalpool*** —F— A pretty calico with yellow eyes and a spotted tail

Medicine Cat(s):

**Tendriltail*** —M— A lithe black and brown tom with a smooth pelt and a long tail

**Halfpaw*** —F— A young half-gray half-white she-cat with blue eyes

WindClan:

Leader:

**Streamstar*** —M— A streamlined soft gray tom with grass-green eyes

Deputy:

**Fennelfur*** —F— A soft, wind blown yellow cat with gold eyes

Medicine Cat(s):

**Berrybird*** —M— A small reddish orange tom with yellow eyes

Others: 

**Mint*** —F— A fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with soft blue eyes. She has a pink nose and black pads.

**Slate*** —F— A dusty gray-black she-cat with leaf-green eyes; she has a black nose, black pads, and black whiskers.

**Dusk*** —M— A chocolate brown tom with hazel eyes. He has a brown nose, brown pads, and white whiskers.


	2. Prolouge

**Prologue**

A calm breeze blows against the fur of a gray-black she-cat as she stands on a branch. She looks into the distance, and wonders what it is like to be wild. She closes her green eyes, and imagines running through the tall grass and jumping into a tranquil river where she catches her favorite fish: tuna.

"Slate?" A voice startles the black cat awake.

"Dusk?"

A chocolate brown tom emerges from a bush, his hazel eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

"Slate, are you daydreaming about the forest again?"

Slate directed her eyes away from her brother sheepishly. "Maybe."

Dusk drew in a deep breath and sighed. "You know you can't go out there. It's dangerous. Just think of all the wild animals that could kill you, and all the feral cats that _would_ kill you..."

"Oh, but Dusk," Slate sighed, "I want the wind in my fur, and fresh fish in my belly."

"That's how you get sick, Slate. Do you remember what happened to our mother?"

"Yes," Slate said reluctantly. "She had a stomachache for moons."

"Exactly. Now, we should get inside before our twoleg wonders where we are," Dusk slipped inside.

Slate looked into the distance. On the one side of a river was a thick pine forest, and the other was a tall-grassed land with few small trees.

"It's amazing how there's two different worlds on either side of the river..." Slate thought out loud. She jumped off the branch and walked inside her warm house and searched for her mother's fur.


	3. Daydreaming

**Chapter 1:**

Soft light filtered into Slate's eyes as she yawned. It was early, and Dusk wasn't awake yet. Slate meandered her way to her food bowl, where fresh pellets of dried fish were waiting to be eaten. She dipped her head into her water bowl and let the cool water lap into her muzzle.

"Awake already?"

Slate whipped her head up and felt her pelt sting with embarrassment. "Yes, um, I was thirsty."

The soft tortoiseshell queen looked humored. "I don't see a lot of cats who drink with their whiskers," she mused.

"I was just daydreaming, mom, that's all," Slate spoke defensively.

"Daydreaming about what? Drowning?" Her mother's blue eyes sparkled.

"Swimming... in the river..."

"In the," she paused. "Valley?" The queen looked surprised.

"Yes... where the pine trees meet the water," Slate replied.

"Slate," her mother breathed, "you know that's where the Clans live. It's dangerous."

"I know, Mom, I want to live there..." Slate trailed off as she noticed her mother's gaze grow solemn.

"No, you don't..." pain edged her voice.

"I... I used to live by the lake. In RiverClan. We would swim in the streams as apprentices and teach the kits how to float. We'd catch fish and give it to the elders, who always said we picked the worst ones, but would always eat them with a purr in their throat. We would race each other in the grass, and see who could climb the biggest tree that was on the ShadowClan border. It was all you could dream of, until the water was poisoned," her happy purr faded into a grieving rumble.

"All the fish were dead, and whoever drank the water would get severely sick. The water was black, and reeked of death. Any mouse, bird, vole, rabbit we found, it was poisoned too."

"What did you do?" Slate shuddered at the though of biting into a plump mouse, only to find black blood inside of it.

"Many of us died, my family included. Cats went to other Clans where they had other prey, and other cats chose to stay. I had no family left, no mate, and no hope. I found out I was expecting kits, so I went to the twoleg place and hoped that maybe one of them would take pity to me. I was very lucky. I changed everything about my life so suddenly, I sometimes forget who i am.

"After I had you and Dusk, I decided that maybe I could try to raise you in the wild. I decided I would learn how to hunt other prey, so I caught a mouse and ate it. The mouse was poisoned, and I was sick for moons. Luckily, the twolegs knew how to heal me. Ever since I ate that mouse I did not set paw outside in fear of losing my kittens."

Slate felt the cool water seep into her fur; she looked into the dazzling water and saw her reflection staring back at her. The sun drew out her deep gray fur and splattered it into the water as her shadow. Her eyes blended into the green grass below the surface. The water was crystal clear and had a perfume more pleasant than her dreams._ How could this have killed my family?_

As she looked down the bank she noticed the young plants growing next to dried up, dead ones. _Life does move on,_ she concludes.

Slate drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. The sound of the quiet running water was too relaxing. As she bathed in the sun, Slate pondered how much she would enjoy living in the wild.

The wind abruptly shifted, and a horrible musty smell washed over her nose.

_A Clan cat!_ Slate quickly got out of the river and ran up the grassy slope to her twoleg place. As she turned back, she was surprised to see that nobody was there. Her body was flooded with relief, and she started to carefully climb the ledge. However, she felt the sharp sting of a foreign cat's glare as she scrambled.

"I'm such a scaredy cat..." Slate muttered to herself as she jumped over her fence.

"You're also a disappearing cat. Where were you!?" Dusk demanded.

Slate tried to come up with an excuse. "I was over at Lucky's."

"Why are you wet?"

"I erm... fell in the pond..." Slate tried to look embarrassed.

Dusk didn't seem to accept her excuse, and only grew more suspicious. "Only your legs fell in the pond?"

The cat flap opened and Mint squirmed through. "What are you two arguing about?"

"Slate's been somewhere she hasn't been. Says she fell in Lucky's pond," Dusk's eyes narrowed.

"She's been in the river." Mint says in an unimpressed voice as she smelled the familiar scent.

Slate cowers as her mother gives her a glare. "Mom it's clean! New plants are growing and I saw fish too! Everything is returning back to normal!"

"I will not go back to that wretched place. Nothing is returning back to how it was. If I catch you down there again you're staying inside!" Mint lashed her fluffy tail as she ordered her kits inside. Reluctantly, Slate and Dusk padded into the warm den.

Mint jumped onto the thin wood and let out a soft rumble. The fearsome warrior she once was would never return.


	4. Discovery

**Chapter 2:**

Slate woke up with pain shooting down her leg. She smelled the fresh scent of blood and noticed her leg was bleeding. Slate began to clean her wound, but her tongue got pricked on a sharp barb nestled in her fur.

She pulled out a thorn from her leg, and spat it on the ground. "If I have to sleep with thorns in my pelt I might as well never go outside ever again," she muttered.

Slate stretched her legs as she got up from her uncomfortable nest. Did forest cats have uncomfortable nests too?

She peered out the window and into the garden the twolegs kept. _What is it like sleeping outside?_

Slate jumped down from her twoleg ledge and slinked her way outside to the bushes.

_How do Clan cats make their nests?_ Slate started tugging at the branches, desperate to make a wild nest.

"Is that how ShadowClan cats get their nests? Stealing from Twolegs?" A confident voice spoke from the shadows of an overhanging tree. "Or is that just a kittypet thing?"

"Oh, um," Slate released her grip on the branch, her pelt prickling with embarrassment, "I... I... Hey! Why are you in my territory!?"

"Oh so you're a kittypet," a pair of blue eyes glowed from the tree. "I'm sorry if I invaded your twoleg place, but I'd like to know if you've seen any ShadowClan cats roaming on this side of the river."

"ShadowClan? Oh, well, I haven't seen anything," Slate tried to sound confident.

"Well, if you haven't, then I'd best be going. I'm a busy tom, with a lot of... _Clan_ responsibilities..."

Slate felt a growl rumbling in her throat. Does this cat know she envies the life of Clan cats? Does he know how much she'd love to abandon her mother's words and explore the lake?

"Before you go, can you show me how to make a nest?"

The tom paused, contemplated, then shook his head. "I really shouldn't," he muttered, "I shouldn't take kittypets into Clan territory... But I guess I will, no harm with nests, right?" He jumped off the tree and over the fence. "Say, what's your name kittypet?"

Slate tried to think of a warrior name to impress the Clan cat. She looked at the moon and drew in a breath. "Night... my name is Night."

"Well, climb the tree, Night."

Slate scurried up the tree and leaped onto the other side of the fence, winding herself in the process.

"You're not in good shape, are you Night?" The tom teased. "My name is Stormpaw. I'm a RiverClan cat."

"Stormpaw? You're just an apprentice," Slate trilled.

Stormpaw puffed out his fluffy chest in surprise. "Well, you're just a kittypet! Anyways, let's get you some moss."

"_Moss_?"

"Yeah, that's what the Clan cats use."

Slate and Stormpaw padded towards the river. "Stormpaw, RiverClan cats don't climb trees," Slate recalled.

"Well, Night, ever since the lake was poisoned we learned how to get food from anywhere. That includes climbing trees. It's a little hard for us, but we manage."

"Little hard for you because of how fat you are..."

Stormpaw growled and grabbed some moss in his teeth. He nodded towards the river to instruct Slate to do so as well. The cats carried the moss up the hill.

"That's a little odd," Slate muttered.

"What's odd?" Stormpaw muffled through the moss.

"You don't smell like I thought you would. The other day when I went down to the river I smelled a terrible stench and assumed it was a Clan border..."

"Well," Stormpaw mewed, "it could've been ShadowClan. They're known for having strong scents. Or even WindClan. They're the other Clan that borders us." He climbed the tree and dropped the moss on the other side of the fence. "I should get going. They might start looking for me if I'm away from my den any longer."

Slate dropped her moss and started to pick out the thorns. "Thanks anyways, Stormpaw. Maybe I could see you again? We could talk more about RiverClan and—"

Stormpaw scurried up the tree as the twoleg place lights snapped on. Slate sighed as she dragged her moss underneath a bush.

_I might not be able to live in the wild, but at least I can sleep in the wild,_ Slate thought to herself as she curled up and closed her eyes.


	5. Journey

_Author's Note: This chapter's purpose is to explore more of RiverClan, and to introduce more characters that will be important later on. Plus, it's fun to see the world outside of our main protagonist's lense :)_

**Chapter 3:**

"Good morning, Raintuft," a tabby called from on top of a tall rock. The large boulder was on the edge of a large, grassy clearing surrounded by a small, snake-like river that cut through the edges. Thick water plants surrounded the river and provided shelter from outside. In the middle of the camp was a flat stone where fresh prey sat. Multiple dens formed an uneven circle around the middle, constructed with plant, bramble, clay, rock, and shell.

"Have you spoke with StarClan at the Moonpool?" The tabby spoke.

The black and white tom shook his head. "No, Meadowstar, StarClan hasn't spoke in moons."

"I wonder what caught their tongue," Meadowstar's emerald eyes narrowed.

Raintuft shifted his paws and spoke carefully. "You don't think they abandoned us, do you?"

Meadowstar closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and let out a sigh of exasperation. "Perhaps I do. We haven't heard from them since the lake was poisoned."

"Well," the tom bowed his head, "maybe I could share tongues with Poppyflower."

"The ShadowClan medicine cat? Don't you think they will attack you?" Meadowstar's usually steady and wise voice sounded concerned.

"No, I'll wait on my side until the dawn patrol arrives. I'll talk to them, and ask to see Poppyflower. If they refuse, I'll go to WindClan."

"Please be careful," Meadowstar pleaded. "We need you, Raintuft. We only have a few warriors, and kit season isn't over yet. And not to mention Hawkpaw—"

"I will be fine," Raintuft purred, "Meadowstar, you worry about me more than my own mother!"

Raintuft returned to his den and pushed through the moss that sheltered the entrance. He needed to collect some herbs to bring over to ShadowClan. Silver Seed was a popular herb that was high in demand, since RiverClan was the only territory with the plant. Raintuft grabbed a leaf-pouch to store the seeds in, and turned around to leave his den.

"Where are you going, Raintuft?" A bright russet cat asked wearily from a nest in the corner of the quiet den.

"Have you been sleeping late again?" Raintuft scolded his apprentice.

"I was just resting my eyes," Hawkpaw defended herself, "it's just so quiet in here and I had nothing to do... sooooo where are you going?"

"Oh, well, I'll give you something to do. I'm heading over to ShadowClan to share tongues with Poppyflower. I want you to collect some more catmint and Silver Seed from the abandoned Twolegplace."

Hawkpaw slowly got up from her mossy bed and stretched her messy pelt. "Will do, Raintuft."

Raintuft headed out of the den once more with an eager Hawkpaw behind him.

An orange-yellow queen gasped at the sight of Hawkpaw's unkempt fur. "Hawkpaw! Your fur! Fix it this instant, you are not going out like that!" Her scolding bronze eyes watched Hawkpaw groan and smooth her unusually sharp pelt.

"Is this better for you, _mother?"_ Hawkpaw snapped in a mocking tone.

"Much," the she-cat's gaze softened.

"Dawnpetal!" A sickly voice cut through the camp.

"I'm coming, mother!" Dawnpetal scurried towards the elder's den.

"My mother is a mother to everyone, even her own mother..." Hawkpaw complained as she followed Raintuft out of camp.

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Raintuft mewed softly. "My mother wasn't so fond of me when I became a medicine cat."

Hawkpaw lowered her gaze and curled her tail. "I'm sorry Raintuft, I shouldn't be so whiny. I'm grateful to have such a caring mother... even though it might not show."

"Aw, cheer up, Hawkpaw," Raintuft brushed his tail against her drooping head. "It's okay to want some independence. I completely understand, that's why you're such a great apprentice."

Hawkpaw's eyes shined. "Thank you, Raintuft."

The two cats came to the ShadowClan border. Raintuft said his goodbyes to his apprentice, and Hawkpaw leaped through the ridge with ease towards the abandoned Twolegplace. Raintuft rested his paws at the stream bordering RiverClan's territory. After a few moments of waiting, a dawn patrol started making its way down to the brook. Raintuft stood up, and nodded a greeting to the ShadowClan deputy, Mapledusk.

"Hello, Raintuft," The brown and black tabby said cooly, keeping her gold-green eyes fixed on the pouch in his mouth.

"Hello, Mapledusk, may I take these to Poppyflower?" Raintuft asked politely.

"We can deliver them to her for you," a strong black tom insisted.

"No, we must let medicine cats share tongues. Come Raintuft, we will take you to Poppyflower's den." Mapledusk ordered the patrol to follow her, and the cats ventured into the pine forest.

Even though Raintuft had been this way countless times, he still felt very uncomfortable being sheltered by pine trees and walking on fresh needles. A young tom must have noticed how unpleasant being in the trees was for him.

"So, RiverClan doesn't have any trees?" The small silver tom inquired.

"Oh, no," Raintuft replied, trying to stay relatively calm, "well, we have some small ones, but we mostly have tall grasses and rivers."

"That must be a bit scary, being out in the open like that," the tom commented. "By the way, my name's Silverpaw. I'm going to be a great ShadowClan warrior, hopefully as great as my kin!"

"Is Clawstar your kin?" Raintuft muffled, "I can see the resemblance."

"Yep! She's the best leader in the whole forest," Silverpaw purred.

"Quiet, Silverpaw," the black tom muttered.

"That's my mentor, Ivybranch. He's pretty young, don't you think? I'm pretty jealous of my sister, Thornpaw. She has a senior warrior as a mentor!"

"One day I'll teach you how to hold your tongue," Ivybranch grumbled.

The patrol broke through a wall of carefully placed brambles and into the heart of the ShadowClan camp. Cats were sharing tongues as they ate their morning meal under the warm sun.

"Poppyflower's den is over by the mossy pine tree," Ivybranch grunted.

"Thank you," Raintuft nodded as he padded off.

"Bye, Raintuft! I hope I can see you again!" Silverpaw called.

Raintuft pushed through the mossy entrance to the medicine den and mewed a greeting.

Poppyflower looked over her caramel-colored shoulder at the cat shaped figure in the den. She breathed in the air, and spoke in a soft, but steady voice. "Hello, Raintuft, what's going on?"

"Poppyflower? What's wrong?" The normally radiant she-cat was gloomy and droopy.

"I haven't been the same ever since Goldenroot and Glowingkit died..." Poppyflower muttered. "Say," her radiance began to return to somewhat normal, "where's Calmwater?"

"Oh, she retired to the elders den," Raintuft explained.

"That figures," Poppyflower murmured as she counted her seeds, "she was getting a bit old."

Raintuft placed his leaf-pouch carefully on a flat rock. "You must be wondering why I'm here."

"Woah, you read my mind!" Poppyflower washed her paws in a tiny pool near the corner of her den. "Thanks for the Silver Seeds," she purred as she saw the glint from the pouch.

"You're welcome," Raintuft washed his chest to calm his nerves. "Hey... uh, have you heard from StarClan at all?"

Poppyflower froze for a moment, and then continued her sorting. "No, why?"

"I haven't for quite some time now, even when I have visited the Moonpool. The moon is always covered," Raintuft sighed. "Maybe StarClan doesn't want to speak with RiverClan after the lake was poisoned."

"The half-moon meeting is in a few days. We can try to contact StarClan then," Poppyflower pointed out.

Raintuft shifted his paws and flicked his bushy white tail. "I just hope we haven't been missing any signs, you know?"

"I hope that if StarClan _did _have something to tell us they would," the she-cat bundled up the seeds next to another wrap. "Maybe a sign of nothing is better than a sign of something."

"I don't know if not sharing tongues is the same as not getting prophecies."

"Prophecies are annoying," Poppyflower giggled. "They'll find a way to always make it vague and about shadows, the moon, the water, fire, kits, anything! I'm tired, StarClan! Give me a break!"

"Well, how am I supposed to teach Hawkpaw how to interpret signs if there are none?" Raintuft dipped his paws into the soft grass and cleaned the smell of needles off of them.

"You do know you'll walk back, right?"

Mapledusk's call came from outside the den. "Raintuft, it's time to leave!"

"May StarClan light your path, Poppyflower," Raintuft touched noses with the caramel cat.

"And to you, Raintuft," Poppyflower nudged Raintuft playfully out of the den like a kit. "Shoo! Get out of here! I have things to do!" She purred playfully at the thought of having to kick out a cat almost three moons older than her.

"Hey, Raintuft!" Silverpaw leaped across the clearing and slipped in front of the bushy tom. "I was ordered to take you back to RiverClan!"

"Not alone, I presume," Ivybranch padded out of the circle of warriors eating their meals. "I don't think you're ready for that responsibility yet."

"Yep, it was Mapledusk's orders!" Silverpaw purred cheerfully.

Ivybranch narrowed his eyes. "Fine, Silverpaw, but don't go into RiverClan."

"I'll make sure of that," Raintuft said confidentially, only to have a mixed glare from the large warrior.

"I hope you do," his whiskers curled, almost playfully, and he returned to his fresh-kill.

"I wonder what's in his pelt," Silverpaw muttered as he led Raintuft out of the camp. "He's not usually that grumpy."

"It must be because I'm a RiverClan cat," Raintuft shrugged.

"Well, I think it might have been that mouse yesterday..."

The two cats reached the end of the forest and onto the brook of the stream. Raintuft said his farewell to the young apprentice, and arrived back in camp just before sundown. He saw Hawkpaw playing with the other apprentices in the stream, and decided not to bother her. He sorted out the herbs she gathered, and purred at the smell of fresh catmint.


	6. Hunt

Chapter 4:

Slate slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the orange sun. It was almost sunrise, and she should be inside. As she got up, bits of moss stuck to her pelt and she frantically tried to lick them off, only to have them stuck in her mouth. She spit the bitter taste out and began to wash her matted fur.

She paused, and strained to hear a scratching noise and detected a mouse's heartbeat. _This must be what it feels like to hunt in the wild._

Slowly, she turns her head and spots the tiny gray ball. She gets low on her haunches, trying not to make a sound through the grass. The blazing sun wouldn't be up for a while, but she felt her pelt burn. As she crept steadily towards the scurrying mouse, the soft breeze tickled her ears and blew the scent of prey straight up her nose.

She pounced, and much to her dismay the mouse fled from under her paws. She scowled, and thrust her claws back into the pile of leaves. As she felt something catch against her claw, she pulled out a small, scruffy looking mouse and scooped it into her paws. Caught off guard, Slate didn't know what to do with the mouse that was struggling to get away. She figured she had to snap its neck, like what her mother told her when she was young. As she bent down to finish the deed, a howling screech echoed through her ears, and she lost hold of the mouse.

Slate glared around, ears flat, lip curled, for the intruder. The noise wasn't a battle cry, it was a cat _laughing!_

"Did you think that you could crush it to death!?" Cackled a familiar voice.

Slate smelled the air and sure enough, she smelled the fading scent of the mouse and a growing scent of a cat. Stormpaw appeared on top of a tall oak branch, and was having the time of his life. Slate's pelt bristled with embarrassment and rage as she watched him belittle her.

"That mouse had no chance! You would've flattened it into crowfood!"

Slate sharped her claws on the earth below her. "You better cut that out before I come up there and give you a real fight!"

"You couldn't climb up here even if you tried," Stormpaw teased.

Slate felt a rumble in her throat and sprinted up to the base of the tree. She started hauling herself up as fast as she possibly could. Stormpaw's eyes widened as he felt the tree shake. He quickly tried to climb higher, but Slate had sunk her teeth into his tail. He let out a blood-curdling cry as a sharp pain shot up his spine.

"Let go! Please, let go!" Stormpaw slashed out with his hind legs at his attacker's muzzle. Slate felt his frenzied claws strike above her eye and she felt herself releasing her grip on the young tom's tail. She shook the blood out of her eye and prepared to leap up after him as Stormpaw plummeted to the ground. She leaped down and chased him into the twoleg ledge, where he scrabbled to get up the slippery hill. Slate raked her claws along his flank, and crimson blood sprayed onto the ground. Reaching behind himself, Stormpaw cuffed his claws over her ears and left fresh slices in her thin skin. As he turned around to fight, a large tortoiseshell rammed into his side, winding him enough to have him pinned down.

"Please!" Begged Stormpaw, "it was just a misunderstanding! Please let me go and I'll never come back!"

The tortoiseshell spoke with her blue eyes blazing and her nose flaring, "What's a RiverClan apprentice doing here? Slate, explain!"

"I-it wasn't my fault mother! He was in the tree, so I chased him off!" Slate stared at the battered and defeated apprentice.

"Slate? Your name is Slate? I thought you said you were Night!" Stormpaw grew furious. "I didn't know you were Slatekit..." His gaze shifted from the sleek, fluffy lithe black she-cat to the enormous tortoiseshell queen. "Y-You must be Mintwater!"

Mintwater growled and released the RiverClan apprentice. "What does it mean to you? I left RiverClan for a better life, a life without Nightfrost and all of the suffering you Clan cats praised!"

Stormpaw flashed his teeth. "He loved you, Mintwater! Why couldn't you see that? You broke his heart when you disappeared out of camp with his kits!"

"You told me you left home because you had nobody left, but instead you left because of your selfish needs! What about the Clan, and what about Nightfrost? I thought you taught me that the Clan comes first!"

"I didn't love Nightfrost!" Snapped Mintwater.

"Well, I'm sure I did! He's my father, and I'm going to see him again!" Slate whimpered under the fury of her mother.

"No, you are NOT!" Mintwater spat whilst eyeing her kit's bleeding face. "You are staying here with Dusk! And you," she turned her rage to Stormpaw, "will _never _come back here again!"

The frightened and hurt apprentice scrambled up the tree, the blood pounding in his ears. Mintwater flattened her fur and stalked into the twoleg den, beckoning Slate to do the same. Slate hesitated; she opened her mouth and felt the reassuring scent of Stormpaw on the other side of the twoleg slope.

"Don't worry, Slatepaw," he whispered, "I'll come get you at moonhigh during the next full moon. You can live in RiverClan."

_"Such an empty promise," _whispered her mother's voice in her head.


End file.
